For viewers who can’t wait to talk about the latest episode of their favorite TV show, social networks are not displacing the water cooler as much as providing a digital analogue. According to a September 2012 survey of US internet users conducted by Nielsen for the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM), people still most often talked about TV shows while in the same room, face to face or over the phone.

But digital and mobile channels also had a discernible presence among viewers looking to socialize about programming. About three in 10 said they had used SMS to discuss shows, and roughly the same number reported using Facebook for that purpose.

Among online channels, Facebook had the greatest influence on getting people to watch a show—46% said they picked up a show as a result of the social network. That was followed by Twitter (14%), the websites of TV shows (9%) and then forums or discussion boards (8%). Content check-in platform GetGlue, however, had yet to make an appreciable impact on viewing habits. Unsurprisingly, the influence of digital channels such as Facebook and Twitter on TV watchers were most pronounced among those ages 18 to 34.

TV watchers also showed a predilection for talking about shows—either in person, online or over the phone—after the show aired. About seven in 10 respondents talked about a show while it was on-air, while three-quarters did so right after its conclusion. The day after a show was broadcast, the percentage of people chatting about a show ramped up to 83%.

Your Klout score may have just changed, by a lot. Tuesday the company rolled out updated scores for all of its users and began pushing out an updated Klout interface that focuses not on your Klout score, but the individual posts that got you there.

“We went from about 100 variables that we were looking at to over 400,” Joe Fernandez, founder and CEO ofKlout told Mashable. “We’re looking at a bunch of new stuff.”

The service is looking at 12 billion data points per day across the seven social networks it looks at — 12 times more than it did previously.

While things like your number of friends on Facebook and followers on Twitter still play a role in your overall score, Klout puts more weight on who those followers are and how you’re engaging with them.

For instance, a like on your latest cat photo from Barack Obama will mean a lot more than a like from your coworker. Getting 100 retweets from just 10 tweets will also weigh more into your score than someone who gets 100 retweets from 1,000 tweets. If the same people retweet your content everyday, their retweets will also be weighed less than someone who gets the same number of retweets from different people.

Real-World Influence

Klout also now takes into account more of your real-world influence, and takes into account how important you are at your company -– the CEO will earn more Klout than the mail guy –- and if you’re important enough to have your own Wikipedia page.

“We had to figure out how to balance the real-world influence with the online influence,” says Fernandez. “We still lean more toward the online influence but now your real-world influence is coming more and more into play.”

“Justin Beiber had a score of 100 and Barack Obama had a score of 94. Because we’re now looking at Wikipedia, and Barack has such an important Wikipedia page, his score goes up to 99 and Justin Beiber’s falls to 91”

Klout Moments

Klout Moments, a new page design when you log in, shows your most recent content , who it influenced, and how engaging it was. Your profile page on Klout now displays Your Moments, a look back at your most influential tweets and posts over the past 90 days.

Moments can also help you see what is making your score change.

“That was a common frustration people had,” says Fernandez. “Now you can see what resonates with your network.”

Fernandez describes Moments as a fundamental shift in Klout, and how people might look at the site, going from simply a score that was analyzing you to something that now shows off the interesting things you say, why you’re important, and what you’re passionate about.

“The profile page should be a representation of me and what I do when I go out into the world,” Foursquare Head of Search Andrew Hogue told me, but what he really means is that you as a person are quickly becoming the sum of everywhere you’ve been and everything you’ve done. On Facebook, you’re the sum of all your interactions and photos with others; but on Foursquare, location and detecting patterns are key. Foursquare today released a completely revamped mobile app for iOS and Android that takes years of data mining and algorithm refinement and stuffs it into a tiny blue-green app. Foursquare began its life as a way to see what your friends are up to, but it has quickly evolved into a life-logging tool / artificial intelligence that knows you “like an old friend does,” Hogue said.

ON FACEBOOK, YOU’RE THE SUM OF ALL YOUR INTERACTIONS AND PHOTOS WITH OTHERS; BUT ON FOURSQUARE, LOCATION AND DETECTING PATTERNS ARE KEY

The new app looks vibrant and clean, featuring a photo-centric news feed, ergonomically re-placed Check-In button, and colorful profile pages, but the real meat is a revamped Explore tab that pulls data on every Foursquare user in real-time and creates incredibly relevant recommendations. The effort was pioneered by Hogue, who previously led Google’sStructured Data team on local search projects and before that studied pattern recognition at MIT. When you tap Explore in “the all-new Foursquare,” the app populates what sandwich places you might like (if it’s lunch time), or what bars are worth hitting (if it’s 3AM on a Saturday night). Explore provides recommendations based on a massive amount of data points, like what sandwich shops you’ve been to before, what time it is, where your friends have been, where there are deals, if you’re new in town, if you’re outside your neighborhood, and where people like you hang out.

For example, here’s a scenario: you’re in Chinatown, it’s lunch-time, and people lately have been posting tips on Foursquare about dumpling places. If you’ve expressed interest in dumplings before, the app will likely recommend a place in the area that’s well-reviewed and popular. “We look at all the data we have about the area including the most talked-about places and foods, and use that data for recommendations,” Hogue said. Yelp, on the other hand, isn’t nearly as real-time in the way it presents data. If you’re just blocks away in SoHo, however, the app might throw some more glitzy cafes your way. “We use map data to define neighborhoods and see trends within those neighborhoods from users,” Hogue said, “because you live your life in a neighborhood. If I visit Lincoln Park in Chicago for the first time, I can open the app and see the vibe of that neighborhood.”

“FOR EVERY TWO DEGREES THE TEMPERATURE GOES UP, CHECK-INS AT ICE CREAM SHOPS GO UP BY 2%.”

Foursquare is able to feed you relevant recommendations because it knows what places, neighborhoods, and cities you have been to. Users visiting other cities may see the hottest tourist spots in the Explore area, while locals will see trendy places they haven’t yet tried. Creating “magical search experiences” built on top of hundreds of data points working behind the scenes is the goal. As Foursquare has created and refined its Explore engine, the team discovered many odd trends around New York City, the company’s home town. “For every two degrees the temperature goes up, check-ins at ice cream shops go up by 2%,” Hogue said. Like an economist, Hogue can quantify exactly when people start hitting museums when it’s cold and beaches when it’s hot. He can even see how people move about the city, and what places they avoid. “In New York, people don’t cross Houston street to go somewhere for lunch. One side is NYU and the other side is shopping and Louis Vuitton.”

After months of studying user data, Foursquare decided that it needed one more data point: the Like. “If you check in to a place, it doesn’t mean you like it there,” Hogue said. “In fact, it might actually be a negative endorsement if you don’t check in there again.” The Like creates a new kind of metadata that makes the app’s recommendations even more accuratel, because you can endorse a place without having checked-in there if you’re a new user. “It’s never one signal. It’s always the combination of independent signals that make a great search engine.” In the end, you are the ultimate data point — your photo on the new profile screen is flanked by places you’ve checked in, photos you’ve taken at each place, lists you’ve curated filled with stuff you like, badges you’ve earned by eating chinese four days in a row, and tips you’ve left about places you’ve visited
.

So you’re new to this whole social media thing. Maybe you’re savvy enough to know your Facebook from yourTwitter, your Pinterest from your Spotify. But what about Tagged? Xing? Futubra? Where do they fit into the social media ecosystem? Just learning their names is enough to make your head spin, let alone how large they are or what kind of numbers they’re pulling down.

Never fear. Mashable has got you covered.

This comprehensive infographic whipped up by social media strategist firm Hasai, below, serves both as a cheat sheet for the newbies and a scorecard for old hands; there’s sure to be a stat that surprises even the most jaded social guru.

Did you know Club Penguin has more employees than Twitter? That Spotify has larger revenues than Tagged, which in turn has more users than Twitter? That Pinterest may be a hot property, but Foursquare still has more users? (All revenue figures are in U.S. dollars, by the way.)

Facebook remains at the top of the social media tree, of course. But as Thursday’s trending Twitter topic, “RIP Facebook,” suggested, that can’t last forever. So who is best positioned to replace them? Take a look at the chart, and let us know in the comments what you think.

Share this:

Pleased To Meet You

My name is Hugues Rey. I Spent 20 years of my professionnal life in communication agencies development through digital & data infusion. Born in July 1968 in Ixelles (Belgium), I began my career in ‘92 as Research Manager for Media+Square (now WPP Mindshare) and than as Research Director for Initiative Media in ‘98. In 2000, I created Fastbridge - the digital agency of Initiative Media. From 2006, I was the Digital Director Europe Middle East Africa for Initiative. I begon at Havas Media Group Belux in Sept 2010 where I'm now CEO. I'm also active in many professional media associations (UMA, CIM (Former president of TV Commission TV & Internet-commission) and GRP). Finally, I’m responsible for several readings at Solvay Brussels School and other associations. Please enjoy your reading !

The Netherlands is home to some of the most digitally savvy consumers in the world, and smartphone ownership is now nearly universal among internet users in the country, based on recent research. The number of tablet owners in the country is also high, and consumers are using such devices for both communication and entertainment.

Marketers continue to grapple with questions and concerns about mobile measurement. Yet some of those concerns stem from misconceptions about mobile measurement capabilities and data availability. Craig Palli, chief strategy officer at mobile marketing technology provider Fiksu, spoke with eMarketer about where marketers are getting things wrong with mobile […]

There's no doubt that advertisers are funneling money into digital, mobile and social. However, recent research suggests they're still struggling to deliver audience across these channels—and many are turning to technology, such as programmatic tools, for help.

Smartphone users may be bigger addicts than they think, as the majority check their phones at least a few times an hour. Recent research finds that nearly half of owners can't imagine life without their smartphones, and more than two in five get anxious about the thought of losing them for just a day.

Internet users in Canada may be more desktop-bound than their counterparts in the UK and US. According to recent research, internet users in the country lag those in the UK and US for share of time spent online via smartphone.